To the Editor: Bicentennial of the Fight for Freedom

This year is 200 since a very brave, noble but unsuccessful fight for our freedom took place here in the USA. Those trying for their freedom were defeated, tortured, tried as criminals and beheaded rather than being treated as war prisoners. They weren’t considered as humans. Sounds like terrorists in Iraq, doesn’t it? This New Orleans war was the largest uprising of the enslaved people in the United States. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t succeed and the movement spread to other states and also get support from up North. It might have resulted in fewer deaths than the 600,000 50-plus years later and allowed 50 more years of freedom for our people. This fight for freedom has been purposely omitted from our history books. Could others admit that those people were smart enough to do that when they were not even allowed to learn to read? No, that would look bad for the ones who enslaved them. One way our freedom has been limited ever since that time is by the fact that this brave fight’s history has been omitted.

We should note that the work of those enslaved people in the United States, including the group fighting 200 years ago, produced over half of the exports from USA (cotton).

This story is NOW told in American Uprising by Daniel Rasmussen, published Jan. 4, 2011, by HarperLuxe. It’s a must-read book.

This year is also the sesquicentennial of the start of the fight ending enslavement of our people (the War Between the States). Real freedom didn’t even commence then. Also in January, we celebrate the peaceful fighter whose effort furthered our people’s freedom (Martin Luther King Jr.).